Telegrammed by Le FlaneurDo not trust him gentle maiden!According to a DfT press release, embargoed for 01.00 Wednesday 30 December:Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis has predicted 2010 will be the year of high-speed rail in the UK on the day he received what could prove to be a landmark report for the future of transport in this country.

High Speed Two - the company set up to advise the Government on the development of high-speed rail services between London and Scotland - delivers its highly-anticipated report today.

But what did I see whilst strolling along Victoria Street this very day, 31 December?

Outside No 55. the former home of the Strategic Rail Authority and now containing the offices of HS2L, but reports and engineering drawings galore, bearing the HS2 logo, being loaded into vehicle.

When asked where the load was going the driver replied 'Marsham Street, Guv'.So why did the Noble Lord claim to have received the report a day early?

Presumably to avoid it being lost in the New Year's Eve news dead spot.

Thursday, 24 December 2009

This lesson is brought to us from the American Chapter of Gricers International and is entitled:

"How not to react when an innocent member of the public almost walks into you because they are using their bloody iPod and not watching where they're going as they're supposed to."And up until 25 seconds in, the cameraman was doing so well...

Telegrammed by IthurielWith Tube Lines over-time on resignalling and way-over the PPP Arbiter's budgetary allowance can it be before the Government calls in its project doctors of choice?Jubilee Line Extension running late and over budget threatening the opening of the Dome - boot out inefficient old London Underground managers and bring in Bechtel.West Coast Route Modernisation running late and over-budget - boot out inefficient old Railtrack managers and bring in Bechtel.How long before the inefficient old Tube Line managers are also booted out and Bechtel are called in to fix the mess?

UPDATE: Wolmar offers his reflections on the PR disaster over at The Times:

The tone adopted by Richard Brown, the head of Eurostar, said it all. He was vaguely apologetic, but he did not get the enormity of the cock-up. Like a football manager whose team had just lost 7-0 he still thought they had played well.

Meanwhile the Daily Mail has its sights on Eurostar Ops Director Nicolas Petrovic.

Petrovic was due to be promoted to the role of Chief Executive in the New Year when Richard Brown is supposed to become Executive Chairman.

Alas, with both the French and British governments looking for someone to blame the planned succession may now be in disaray.

Telegrammed by IthurielGood to see RSSB making good use of its £15 million Research Budget and finding topics British Rail Research overlooked. • T703 Facilitating shared expectations between passengers and front-line staff

I was disappointed to to see that RSSB ignored my my extensive oeuvre in this latest research project.

I would have thought that naughty goblins not being able to read the safety notices and thus coming to a sticky end would have been a point worth making in these days of falling child literacy.

UPDATE: This just in from Herr Ernst Mach...

Liebe Fact Compiler just to show that we Austrians have a sense of humour can I say that I was blown over by this latest report from RSSB.Guidance on protecting people from the aerodynamic effects of passing trains Very funny, ja?

UPDATE: This from our International Correspondent...

I fear Herr Mach has not entirely understood the issues about aerodynamics of passing trains. Austria does not yet sport a station sign quite as promising as this one at Penrith.

You could make a full time job out of correcting the wilful and/or ignorant distortions on that blog. It's worse than the Daily Express, or the worst excesses of the DfT's press release department. I can't believe intelligent people read it.

Telegrammed by our International CorrespondentIn summer ATOC announced that the entire National Rail Enquiries call-centre operation would be outsourced, at a cost of nearly 200 British jobs, to Bombay.But now the trade association for Train Operating Companies has been outflanked by one of its own members. `

Plucky little Chiltern Railway, owned by Deutsche Bahn (one of the worlds largest rail and logistics operators) has dumped The Trainline as their on-line retailer in favour of an undisclosed supplier which also provides a UK based call centre.

The new arrangement will come into force from 1st February 2010, according to a confidential staff briefing issued yesterday.Under the leadership of Adrian 'Hoppy' Shooter, now happily recovered from his recent knee operation, Chiltern has gained a reputation as a bit of a pathfinder TOC - witness the successful delivery of multiple Evergreen projects compared to the WCML upgrade fiasco.

Chiltern decided on the move due to customer complaints about Trainline failings, not least the Indian call centre's preference for selling Beardie Rail inclusive tickets from Brum and Kidderminster to London, rather than cheaper Chiltern only routings.Since Chiltern is the model for longer franchises, Exponent Private Equity (who paid an eyewatering £163 million to Natex, Virgin and Stagecoach for the Trainline in 2006) must be feeling a tad nervous.

But not half as nervous as ATOC, whose former Chairman, Adrian Shooter, acts as an unpaid 'informal advisor' to the shadow Tory transport team.

Telegrammed by our International CorrespondentMystic Wolmar's crystal ball is working well these days.

On the 13th December he predicted the demise of Tube Lines, the other half of the dead and rotting PPP Siamese twin, Metrodebt.

Lo and behold today Regulator Bolt obliged, favouring LUL's projected £4 billion to Tube Lines demands for £5.7 Billion, creating a new £1.3 billion funding gap for Tube Lines' lucky owners - Bechtel (no laughing at the back) and Gruppo Ferrovial, or a descoping of the work the PPP delivers or, as is most likely, a windfall for Sue Grabbit & Runne.

Say goodbye to more accessible stations on the JNP network, new trains for the Piccadilly Line. And a big cheery welcome to a lot of empty desks at the glitzy Westferry Circus Tube Lines HQ. Tube Lines was not happy and Dean Finch, outgoing CEO told financial news agency Bloomberg "A settlement at this level is not conducive to private- sector involvement in the Underground, nor does it reflect the reality of the Underground working environment".

Strong words from a man already leaving the troubled world of PPP for pastures new at errrr.... doomed National Express.

Telegrammed by our International CorrespondentAccording to the Daily Mail a spokesman for Eurostar said:

'There will be no cancellations and no disruption to our service - services on Friday and Saturday will be covered by our French and Belgian Eurostar drivers.'

Well, its their train set so they should know if it is a workable plan, but SNCB is such a tiny partner in the driving stakes that it can barely cover its own turns from Brussels Forest, let alone anyone elses.

Although France is a much bigger player in Eurostar, SNCF mechanicians are not famous for strike breaking. They are obligated to work their booked turns, not to do so would be secondary action - illegal. And there is a process under which French drivers can cover London diagrams if London is genuinely short, or the service has fallen apart. Whether they will step in to do a turn for a London driver in legitimate dispute with his employer is a different question. If ASLEF puts even a notional one man picket at the London booking-on point (which it is legally entitled to do), EUKL falls flat on its arse - the Le Landy driver travels on the cushions from Paris, takes one look at the picket line and retires to consult by phone with his own French trade union about whether he can or should take up the diagram. This will, naturally, take a little while the French union takes its own legal advice on secondary international picketing - a truly Jarndyce v Jarndyce question. Departure time comes and goes. The train doesn't, and hoards of the Great British Disappointed build up in the holding pens at St Pancras check in. Eventually the union in France advises their member it is a matter of personal conscience for him. He suddenly develops a diplomatic headache and declares himself unfit for duty. Chaos descends from the roof of the great Barlow train shed, and at Gare du Nord three hours later when the back working fails to appear.And to get just to this state of perterbation, Le Landy must even now be trying to find 10 spare drivers to send to London this afternoon, because if they are going to do the whole London-Paris-London job tomorrow, they have to lodge here tonight. Presumably the French Train Crew Managers must think they can do it, and have told London they are confident of getting them, otherwise the UK spokesman is being (delete as appropriate) improbably optimistic/economical with the verite/spinning out of control.Luckily we can take comfort from some good news - on the very day the operational and HR side of EUKL were falling out with ASLEF, the marketeers announced this.

Tres Bon et triples tout circulaire.

UPDATE: This from the Major...

How does the Le Landy man get home once he's decided not to drive?

UPDATE: Our International Correspondent advises...

He will travel home on the little jump seat in the front cab of the next Paris train, which will be a booked Le Landy working.

He can't go in the passenger saloons because they will be heaving under the strain of a double load of passengers - its own booked complement and his sweaty delayed masses, and the latter will tear him apart limb by limb when they work out who he is.So far this morning, (10.00hrs) the departing London turns have been covered by EUKL Driver Managers, who are not in dispute.

Lets hope for the sake of the passengers they have enough management to keep this up for two days.

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

Virgin Trains is planning to double its service between Glasgow and London after British Airways cabin crew said they would be striking over the Christmas period.

Errr... how?

Has Beardie discovered a Strategic Reserve that can run at 125mph?

Or have a crack team of Virgin engineers perfected tilt on Mk2s and 3s?

Perhaps NR plans to slap a draconian speed restriction across the entire WCML?

Eye thinks we should be told!

UPDATE: This from Chionanthus Virginicus (no relation)Now come on FC!

Virgin say:"...25 additional services that it plans to run on the London – Glasgow via Preston route over the Christmas and New Year holiday period ..."Let's say 12 operational days - that's two extra trains per day - 1 Up , 1 Down?

For some inexplicable reason it now appears that there has been a degree of slippage.

Sources close to the Department indicate that SLC2 is now more likely to be implemented at the May 2011 timetable change rather than at the December 2010 target date.

No matter.

Even May 2011 is looking highly optimistic, judging by this letter from the 'independent' Office of Rail Regulation to Network Rail requesting a review, and if necessary amendment, of the East Coast RUS.

As any fule kno a Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) seek(s) to balance capacity, passenger & freight demand, operational performance and cost, to address the requirements of funders and stakeholders".

As the timetable is the physical embodiment of the balance achieved by the RUS, presumably the former must follow the latter?

So is anyone now brave enough to suggest when SLC2 might actually be implemented?

UPDATE: This from a Mr Pat Bell...

Mr. Lee wants an answer by 8 January 1010?

Railways won't have been invented for another 815 years.

You have to applaud ORR for being ahead of the curve!

UPDATE: This, surprisingly, from the late Sir Arthur Bryant...

But if the railways had been invented King Harold could have taken his army on the LNER to Stamford Bridge, duffed up Harald Hardrada, then returned (taking refreshments on route) and caught the Southern electric to Hastings, arriving in good time to repulse William the Bastard as he tried to land.

Carter-Ruck have succeeded in persuading the BBC to remove all reference to the Trafigura story from its website, according to the New Statesman. They really don't learn do they - Carter Ruck or the BBC. You cannot suppress things like this in the modern media age. If one organisation caves in, there will the dozens more only to willing to step up to the plate.

So do enjoy this Newsnight film, which I really wouldn't bother to have posted had the BBC caved in.

Could I encourage every single UK blogger to embed this video in their blogs too?

Evidently a station on the never never is more important to rail users than a overspill car park in the here and now.What a perfect example of the government's transport policy - announce endless new schemes for the future but ignore the problems of today.Eye salutes all involved.

In July I undertook to review the Department’s rolling stock plan in the light of the electrification announcements and other developments. The Government remains committed to providing an additional 1300 carriages by mid-2014.

Until commercial negotiations on the Thameslink programme are completed, I am not in a position to update the rolling stock plan, which is critically dependent on the determination of the Thameslink rolling stock contract.

UPDATE: This from a Mr Chips with Everything...The ex Thameslink Class 319 units appear to be the answer to all Lord Adonis’ prayers.

According to various sources, following:

“thorough refurbishment, including the installation of air conditioning”;

electrification of various lines; and

completion of the new Thameslink fleet,

they will be used: -

to operate all suburban services between Oxford, Newbury, Reading and London;

to replace Class 323 EMUs, which would be transferred to the West Midlands;

to operate regional services on the Liverpool & Manchester (Chat Moss, Bolton and Wigan); and

to enable sufficient cascades from above, to bring about the replacement of all the Pacers.

Given that there are only 86 x 4-car Class 319 units in total, and that seventeen 323s will apparently move south (so a net of 69 units), that leaves only the “soixante-neuf” to replace all 102 x Class 142 and Class 144 units on Northern.

And that's before you’ve even touched the other 38 Class 142 and Class 143 units on ATW and FGW.

No way Jose!

And if they're so good why not leave them on Thameslink?

Is this another case of favouring the South East with new rolling stock whilst the rest of the country has to put up with cast offs?

Gordon Brown called the Javelin train’s first weekday journey, “a momentous day in the long and glorious history of British railways” during the official launch of the UK’s first domestic high-speed rail service at St Pancras International station this morning.

Putting aside the interesting quote about the 'glorious history of British railways' hasn't the dear leader committed a faux pas by referring to South Eastern's high speed train as a 'Javelin'?

This name, we are constantly reminded, cannot be used before the London 2012 Olympics (copyright ODA).

“I know some people who think this is not the time to be investing in infrastructure but I believe it is essential to do so and we will be investing £20 billion in our rail infrastructure in the next few years.”

Talk about making spending commitments with someone else's budget.

I suspect the "we" he is referring to will be in opposition within six months and therefore not in a position to invest in anything.

Today there will be a veritable love in between the doomed company and the Department:

Chris Mole MP, The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport and Andrew Chivers, Managing Director, NXEA will launch the Service Improvement Plan by naming a train at Liverpool Street station at 10.00am and unveil a customer information brochure giving details about the improvements. Good to see Moley out and about on the network, but a shame the Noble Lord couldn't make it.

Perhaps a late and unexpected diary conflict?

UPDATE: This from the Master...Sadly 'twas not to be.

Someone at DfT must have 'contacts' as a cable theft at Chelmsford caused the event to be cancelled.

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

Adonis couldn't do it because he was at a meeting with Hitachi "discussing IEP".

To suffer one ministerial cancellation may be regarded as a misfortune...

The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the Department for Transport spent £87,401 on pot plants and £3,419 on cut flowers in 2008-09. This excludes spend incurred at the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency as the information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

No doubt that includes the cost of flying in chrysanthemums for IEP meetings.

UPDATE: This from A Despairing Member of Staff...I note your post on the quality of LUL Passenger annoucements; is there any chance of SWT using this gentlemen on their services in the future because I for one have had enough of Digital Doris telling me to "please take my personal belongings with me when I leave the train."

What other belongings would she like me to remove? Public belongings, perhaps? Does she honestly believe that I boarded the train carrying a bench I stole from the park? Or perhaps she means that I may leave the train with belongings which in actual fact belong to persons other than myself?

Please could someone have a word with Lord Carrier-bag of Double-Decker; call it a Christmas request from his chums at the sharp end.

Introducing a green stimulus – ensuring part of the fiscal stimulus supports low-carbon growth and jobs by accelerating £535 million of capital spending on energy efficiency, rail transport, and adaptation measures. 76,000 low income households will benefit earlier from better heating and energy efficiency, up to 200 new rail carriages will be delivered earlier and 27,000 homes will benefit sooner from flood defences (cont. p94)

Earlier than what?

And could those 200 carriages refer to to the 202 DMU vehicles announced in similar terms in last year's Pre-Budget Report and subsequently abandoned.

We'd ask DfT if we thought the press office would understand the question.

We'd ask Stephen Hammond to raise it in Parliament, if we thought he would understand the question.

But as we suspect it's a cut and paste job from last year's Pre-Budget Report we'll do nothing but bury our head deep in our hands and weep.

After all does anyone believe a word that the 2009 Pre-Budget Report contains?

UPDATE: This, amazingly, from Hammond's 5th Surgeon...

Has 222 been on the Christmas gin?

The reason why the reference to 200 new vehicles looks like a cut'n'paste from the 2008 PBR is because it is from the 2008 PBR!

Not even this Chancellor would be craven enough to try and get away with the same nonsense twice... surely?

Not many outside the industry know that the British Railways Board still exists, albeit in a residuary capacity.

Known, surprisingly enough, as British Railways Board (Residuary), it is the repository for much of the former nationalised industry's liabilities, in particular claims relating to industrial disease - asbestosis, emphysema and other unpleasantness suffered as a consequence of working on the railway.

It is also tasked with the management and disposal of the industry's remaining land and buildings, which are surplus to the needs of the operational railway.

In most cases this relates to disused tunnels, bridges and viaducts, old track formations, abandoned goods yards and the like - which today's railway has no interest in.

Where possible BRB(R) tries to sell these disused assets off - raising a couple of bob in the process for HMG and getting shot of the liability at the same time.

The BRB(R) is chaired by Doug Sutherland, the former SRA's finance director, and he reports directly to the Secretary of State.

So far so good.

And mostly the BRB(R) does indeed do a pretty good job.

But there are exceptions.

Take the overspill car park at Kings Lynn for example.

Almost four years ago a 96-space overspill car park was built on a plot of land owned by BRB(R).

The BRB(R) has now decided to sell that land, complete with overspill car park, and it has been entered into a Residential Auction to be held by Allsops next Tuesday the 15th December (Lot 83)

The sale could raise as much as £400,000 for the Treasury, which in these fiscally challenging times is not be sniffed at.

Land is only disposed of when it has been agreed with the Department for Transport that there is no need for it to be retained for future railway purposes.

Surely a well used overspill car park serving a busy station like Kings Lynn is very much a railway purpose and it ought to be retained for use today, let alone in the future?

Therefore, it is unimaginable that the Department for Transport (prop. Lord Adonis) could have sanctioned the sale of the land to a developer who will not have the interest of rail passengers in mind.

So Eye wonders whether the Noble Lord is paying lip-service to modal shift or whether he continues to be badly advised?

The buck stops with you My Lord - what will you do?

UPDATE: This from the saintly Driver Joseph Locke...After reading your item on the Kings Lynn car park, I turned to the alliteratively titled section 6.46 ("Prioritising projects and programmes") of the Pre-Budget Report.

The section where it promises to save £170 million by (among other things) increasing the capacity of station car parks.

Despite harbouring republican sympathies Lord B had secured the services of Her Majesty's very own Scots Guards to lead revellers in a medley of Carols at yesterday's Rail Freight Group Christmas Lunch.

The canny political operator had also invited shadow Rail Minister Stephen Hammond MP to address members before luncheon.

There was a collective choking on bread rolls when Lord B confidently predicted that Hammond "would make a very good Secretary of State"!

Of course the wily old fox was clever enough to add... "or opposition spokesman".

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

Hammond may not have endeared himself to any railway hacks present.

He told a joke about five surgeons discussing who in the industry was easiest under the knife.

The punch line had the last saw-bones saying he preferred operating on railway hacks; as they had neither heart nor backbone and their lips and ar$eholes were interchangeable...

UPDATE: This from the Lobby Correspondent...Could this be the same Stephen Hammond who was observed entertaining one Roger Ford in the the cafe area of Portcullis House earlier this year, in what was clearly an unsuccessful attempt by the good Captain to explain the break down of the 1300 (sic) vehicles in the HLOS?

I think we should be told!

UPDATE: This from NR's Internet Rapid Rebuttal Unit...

'Bigs up'?

Tfc will be 'repping his endz', next.

UPDATE: This from 5741 Duck...You say that Lord Berkeley is a "cany political operator".

...examine the overall cost structure of all elements of the railway sector and to identify options for improving value for money to passengers and the taxpayer while continuing to expand capacity as necessary and drive up passenger satisfaction.

Eye suggests that the Department starts this study by examining its own role in recent doomed or about-to-be-doomed rolling stock procurement exercises, where millions have been wasted with nothing to show for it (eg IEP, the cancelled DMU project, the pointless and very expensive Coco inquiry into Roscos, etc... ).

There's a good £50m of waste identified before we even begin to look at the debacle of franchising.

A good friend of mine was given a whizzy satellite navigation system by his employers to help him find his way by road to the various bits of the rail network in Devon and Cornwall he has to work on (despite the fact that he knows the county’s rail network as well as everyone).

After a meeting in Bristol he thought he’d try this new box of tricks out on the train back to see what it could do.

Initially it was very confused, constantly trying to point him onto the nearest road, but around Par my mate decided to try its walking function and asked it to give him directions to Penzance from the railway station.

Lo and behold, it suggested he walk all the way down the Cornish Main Line as far as Hayle, where it finally opted to send him on the main road back to Penzance, presumably having dodged the HSTs, Voyagers and Sprinters along the way.

It’s a bit worrying though – after hearing about people driving down railway lines because they’ve had their brains surgically replaced by Satnavs, is the next thing a plague of hikers getting confused between country tracks and Country Tracks?

Telegrammed by the ArcherSad news from the Derby Railway Engineering Society.A planned lecture on how to order new trains was threatened with cancellation when the booked DfT speaker unexpectedly withdrew.

Eye cannot imagine why.However, good news.

Apparently some chap called Wormsley (subs - please chk spelling) from an outfit called Portaloo (ditto) has manfully stepped into the breach.

What a shame that DRES members will now have to listen to someone from an organisation with no experience of succesfully introducing new trains (shurley shome mishtake. Ed)

UPDATE: This from our man at 222 Marylebone Road...I understand that this chap Malmsey works for a ROSCO, so he must be well placed to lecture on DfT Rail's procedures for not ordering trains while spending massive sums of money on consultants.

No doubt balance will be maintained by your friendly local rolling stock consultancy, which is receiving squillions for helping with the late running Thameslink trains procurement and will no doubt be there in force to defend its client?

UPDATE: This from a Mr Walmsley...

I think you maybe referring to a talk on DfT procurement that was due to take place in Derby tomorrow.

Unfortunately the advertised speaker has been called away on family business (so no jokes there).

The funny bit is who is standing in – me!

I will be talking about new DMUs but I can’t really imagine not referring to the previous subject just a tiny little bit...

Ian's talk on 'New DMUs – Class 172 Turbostars & Parry People Movers' will take place at 19:00 tomorrow (8th December) at the Derby Conference Centre, London Road, Derby.